| Title: | Firing properties of accessory olfactory bulb mitral/tufted cells in response to urine delivered to the vomeronasal organ of gray short-tailed opossums |
| Author(s): | Zhang JJ; Huang GZ; Halpern M; |
| Address: | "Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11203, USA. jingji.zhang@downstate.edu" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 0379-864X (Print) 0379-864X (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "In comparison with many mammals, there is limited knowledge of the role of pheromones in conspecific communication in the gray short-tailed opossum. Here we report that mitral/tufted (M/T) cells of the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) of male opossums responded to female urine but not to male urine with two distinct patterns: excitation followed by inhibition or inhibition. Either pattern could be mimicked by application of guanosine 5'-O-3-thiotriphosphate and blocked by guanosine 5'-O-2-thiodiphosphate, indicating that the response of neurons in this pathway is through a G-protein-coupled receptor mechanism. In addition, the inhibitor of phospholipase C (PLC), U73122, significantly blocked urine-induced responses. Male and female urine were ineffective as stimuli for M/T cells in the AOB of female opossums. These results indicate that urine of diestrous females contains a pheromone that directly stimulates vomeronasal neurons through activation of PLC by G-protein-coupled receptor mechanisms and that the response to urine is sexually dimorphic" |
| Keywords: | Animals Enzyme Inhibitors/pharmacology Estrenes/pharmacology Female Male Microelectrodes Olfactory Bulb/*physiology Opossums/*physiology Pyrrolidinones/pharmacology Type C Phospholipases/antagonists & inhibitors *Urine Vomeronasal Organ/*physiology; |
| Notes: | "MedlineZhang, Jing-Ji Huang, Guang-Zhe Halpern, Mimi eng DC02745/DC/NIDCD NIH HHS/ Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural England 2007/02/28 Chem Senses. 2007 May; 32(4):355-60. doi: 10.1093/chemse/bjm005. Epub 2007 Feb 26" |
